The Family Party was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It described itself as a Christian party.Family Party provisional website

History

The Family Party was established by members of the disbanding

Destiny New Zealand Destiny New Zealand was a Christian political party in New Zealand centred on the charismatic/pentecostal Destiny Church. The party described itself as "centre-right". It placed a strong focus on socially conservative values and argued that the ...

(the political party backed by the Destiny Church) and by Paul Adams, a former

United Future United Future New Zealand, usually known as United Future, was a centrist political party in New Zealand. The party was in government between 2005 and 2017, first alongside Labour (2005–2008) and then supporting National (2008–2017). U ...

MP and

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

within the

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

City Impact Church, run by New Zealand

televangelist Televangelism ( tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning " ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are ministers, whether official or self-pr ...

Peter Mortlock. It was intended that they would join forces with Gordon Copeland, another former

MP then sitting as an independent, but talks fell through, and Copeland and another former United Future List MP,

Larry Baldock Larry David Baldock (born 1954) is a New Zealand politician. Before entering national politics, he was involved with Youth With A Mission and spent 15 years living in the Philippines. After returning to New Zealand in 1996, he joined Future Ne ...

established

The Kiwi Party The Kiwi Party was a political party operating in New Zealand between 2007 and 2011. Briefly known as Future New Zealand, it was a breakaway from the United Future New Zealand party and sought to carry on the tradition of Future New Zealand. The ...

There was speculation that

Taito Phillip Field Taito Phillip Hans Field (26 September 1952 – 23 September 2021) was a Samoan-born New Zealand trade unionist and politician. A Member of Parliament (MP) for South Auckland electorates from 1993 to 2008, Field was the first New Zealand MP of ...

might also be involved, but he formed another political party to target

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

Pacific Island Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

South Auckland South Auckland is an imprecisely defined urban area of Auckland, New Zealand, with a young population, a relatively large Polynesian and Māori demographic, and lower incomes than other parts of Auckland. The name ''South Auckland'', though n ...

, known as the

New Zealand Pacific Party The New Zealand Pacific Party was a Christianity, Christian political party that existed in New Zealand from 2008 to 2010. The party was founded as a vehicle for former New Zealand Labour Party, Labour MP Taito Phillip Field, who was subsequentl ...

. Formation of the Family Party was announced in October 2007, and it was registered on 17 December, although its proposed logo was rejected because it used orange as the primary colour, a colour reserved for use exclusively by the Electoral Commission. The party described its support base as "pro-family, traditional Christian" voters, and said that it would target Maori and Pacific Islander voters in South Auckland.

Richard Lewis Richard, Rich, Richie, Rick, Ricky or Dick Lewis may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Field Lewis Jr. (1907–1957), American radio network owner * Dick "Rocko" Lewis (Richard Henry Lewis III, 1908–1966), American entertainer * Rich ...

, the former leader of Destiny New Zealand, was the Family Party's leader, while Adams was deputy leader. The party president was Elias Kanaris.

2008 election results

The Family Party did not gain electoral representation as a result of their contests in the 2008 general election. According to the New Zealand Electoral Commission website, it polled a total of 8176 votes altogether, to poll a final total party vote of only 0.35%. This placed them behind the "joke" Bill and Ben Party,

and

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP), also known as the Cannabis Party, is a political party in New Zealand. It is dedicated to removing or reducing restrictions on the use of cannabis and similar substances. Party history Cannabis in New ...

, and on a par with the

2010 demise

After the general election, nothing further was heard from the Family Party. It did not stand a candidate in the Mount Albert by-election, caused after former Prime Minister

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

took up her new post as Director of the

United Nations Development Program The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

. On 23 February 2010 the party applied to the Electoral Commission to cancel its registration. On 29 April 2010 the party was officially de-registered.

Electoral results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Family Party Defunct political parties in New Zealand Christian political parties in New Zealand Defunct Christian political parties Political parties established in 2007 Political parties disestablished in 2010 2007 establishments in New Zealand

History

2008 election results

2010 demise

Electoral results

See also

References